SURINAME-SECURITY-Opposition party condemns attack on court house as “barbaric.”

PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC – The opposition Brotherhood and Unity in Politics (BEP) has condemned last Friday’s attack on the Court House in the capital, describing it as “an act of barbarity and an attack on the constitutional state of the Republic of Suriname.”

Security has been tightened across Paramaribo after a failed bomb attack on Friday evening. In addition, security in other places, such as utility companies, has been increased, additional police officers and military personnel have been deployed, and surveillance has been stepped up.

The police report that on Friday evening, two men who arrived on a moped threw RPG grenades attached to a hand grenade onto the steps of the courthouse.

One of the attackers also fired shots at the building with an automatic firearm. There were two security guards in the building at the time. No one was injured.

Defense Minister Krishnakoemarie Mathoera said that everything would be done to guarantee safety and peace.

The explosives found at the courthouse have now been disarmed under the supervision of experts. In addition to the criminal investigation, an administrative analysis is also being carried out within the Surinamese National Army since military weapons were involved.

In a statement, the BEP, which has two seats in the National Assembly, said a “constitutional State is a highly acquired good, where people live and work according to legal rules with an orderly character. “Where no one is above the law and where everyone is equal before the law and where the main task of the State is to promote, protect, maintain and guarantee these (human) rights. The judiciary is, therefore, an important pillar of the democratic constitutional State in which we live here in our country Suriname.”

It said that the attack, “for whatever reason, is not only outside the Surinamese order but is also directly equivalent to an attack on our Surinamese constitutional State.

“An unprecedented nefarious and terrorist activities in the middle of this challenging and difficult social, financial-economic and psychological point in our Surinamese history and development,” BEP said, adding it “believes that the government should get to the bottom of this matter.

“We are still a young nation. But we nevertheless have much to lose from all that we have been able to achieve with our sweat and blood, and tears and that of our parents and ancestors. God be with us, Suriname,” the party added.